Budweiser Budvar has installed a new can filling machine

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České Budějovice, 8th March 2018 – The Budweiser Budvar Brewery put a new can filling machine into trial operation today, thus increasing the can filling room capacity by 55% from 16,000 cans to 25,000 cans per hour. The new can filling machine includes an automatic system for taking samples that are continually evaluated by the quality management department. Besides the can filling machine, the flow pasteurizer, washing device and can seaming machine on the line had to be replaced as well with higher-power equipment. An automatic can lid container will also be newly installed, which will greatly ease the physical work of the line operating personnel. All the work, including the dismantling of the original machines, was completed within three weeks. The investment is worth approximately CZK 40 million and was supplied by the German company KHS Dortmund.

“We decided to change the can filling machine due to the dynamic growth in the demand for our beer in cans. In 2013, we sold 147,000 hectolitres of beer in cans, while last year it was almost 300,000 hectolitres,” says Budweiser Budvar’s brewmaster Adam Brož. At present, Budweiser Budvar fills five types of beer into cans, one third of which is sold in the Czech Republic.

The increase in the can filling room capacity is part of the development plan of the company, which started in 2015. The demand for Budvar beer still exceeds the production capacity limit. In 2018, the brewery will launch a fully automated logistics centre and complete the construction of lager cellars. In addition, two more large constructions will be initiated this year - namely the building for cylindro-conical fermentation tanks (containers for the main beer fermentation) and the building for the installation of another bottling line. In the coming years, the expansion of the production will be completed by the construction of a new brewing room. Upon completion of all the investments, the brewery will have an annual production of 2 million hectolitres. The total value of the investment will be about CZK 2,000 million.